Category: Portugal

On our French trip in high school, my 17-year-old self encountered that mashup of culture americaine et française: Le Royal Cheese at McDonald’s. We laughed—but cut ourselves short in awe. You could order a BEER with your Mickey D’s pommes Read More …

On the Praça das Flores, the evening descends and the lights come on all around the not-quite-square plaza. In the midst of Principe Real, in Lisbon, patrons turn to their favorite hangouts for a bite and a beer…it’s a fine Read More …

We find excuses to explore the many bairros of Lisbon—the city, much like Paris, is more a collection of villages than one monochromatic town. Perched on a hill overlooking the lower quarters on the river, Campo de Ourique survived the Read More …

Last year, the cold of early January struck us hard, but we warmed our hearts (if not our hands) by heading down to Marvila and wrapping those hands around a succession of beers. The Festa dos Reis put on by Read More …

Lisbon’s both a reminder to me of so many cities in Europe, but also like no other place I’ve known. It’s the first Paris of my memories, the Budapest of my dreams. Some liken it to Rome, for its supposed Read More …

We attack shopping at El Corte Inglês like it’s a major international expedition, which it is: We’re strangers in a strange land. It’s going into foreign territory to leave our quiet town and subject ourselves to the Mall. It takes Read More …

Nothing prepares you for the scale of the Açores islands. A short, two-hour flight from Lisbon (or twice that from Boston), and you’re there—this impossibly green flotilla of masted ships clinging loosely to each other in the midst of the Read More …

We drove past a handful of tavernas, looking for something a bit more than what we called the “one-bulb bar,” dimly lit by a single florescent light hanging on a twisty wire, with a grim trio of customers inevitably looking Read More …

Lisbon’s jam-packed with tourists, so they say, but I’ve made it to September, and have found that when you stay clear of the places people say “you should see,” and focus on the neighborhoods—“what you want to see,” the crowds Read More …

As the United States goes, our most impactful export can’t be Coca-Cola, KFC, or even the mighty 747. No, arguably much better, I nominate the cheeseburger. The base sandwich may have originated somewhere else, but we drove its utter ubiquitousness—as Read More …